A low or reduced calorie product, such as chips, crackers, cookies, cakes, muffins, brownies, breakfast cereals, pasta, and the like, of a good taste has been the elusive dream of formulators for many years.
Despite the obvious desirability of these products, technological limitations have prevented food manufacturers from bringing such products to market. These limitations manifest themselves in unacceptable taste or texture, or negative effects on digestion. It is the object of this invention to delineate the existing limitations in the current art, and provide a method by which to overcome the limitations of the current art, and create acceptable products with significant calorie reduction. This reduction is defined as in excess of 30% of the standard product (i.e. below about 3.25 calories per gram on a dry weight basis, as will be explained herein).
One of the easiest paths to caloric reduction is achieved by retaining elevated levels of moisture in the final product. For example, standard white bread often exhibits a caloric value of a mere 2.6 calories per gram, simply due to its high moisture content, which approaches forty percent. Other products such as muffins (again close to 40% moisture), sponge cakes (30% moisture), and doughnuts (35% moisture) continue to bear out this trend. However, this represents a false caloric savings to the consumer, and is no more effective than drinking additional water with the product. Without providing a greater degree of satiation, the consumer will simply be hungry sooner, and will end up consuming the same or greater number of calories eventually.
Since moisture levels for baked goods such as cookies, muffins and cakes can vary dramatically between categories, and even between individual formulations within the same category, it is impossible to evaluate the true caloric reduction by looking at the published, FDA-mandated, caloric values of the finished product, since they are based solely on the calories per gram on a non-dry weight basis. Rather, the most appropriate measure to determine caloric reduction is by examining the calories per gram on a dry weight basis. This value can be obtained by dividing the total number of calories of the constituent ingredients, by the total weight in grams of the constituent ingredients less the total weight in grams of the moisture of the constituent ingredients. The term “calorie” in the context of this invention is understood to refer to the kilocalorie unit of energy, also known as the large or food calorie, which is equal to 4.186 kilojoules or one thousand thermal energy calories, and is the energy necessary to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water by one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit).
One inherent difficulty in creating a low-calorie product is that there are very few raw ingredients with which to work. All common ingredients used in baking manufacture have a relatively high caloric value, on a per-gram basis. For instance, flour, sugar, and starch are all carbohydrates, and, as such, each contains approximately four calories per gram. Any proteins will also provide four calories per gram, while fats and oils provide nine calories per gram. Therefore, in a basic formulation, even if the amount of fat is greatly reduced or even entirely removed, there will still be approximately 110 calories for a 28 gram (1 ounce) serving (28×4=112), on a dry weight basis.
There is much prior art embodied in many patents, dating back to the 1950's, which have focused on creating a large variety of low-calorie products. Although a plethora of raw ingredients have been suggested, which could, under the proper conditions, possibly produce a truly low calorie product, when it comes to actual practice and specific examples, the limitations of the use of the ingredients become apparent. In all these patents, which were attempting to create lower-calorie baked goods, such as muffins, doughnuts, cakes, cookies, and the like, the examples presented consistently only offered products with a resultant calorie count on a dry weight basis of between 3.27 and 5.57 calories per gram. Below is an exemplification collection of the patents, the example number within the patent, type of flavored baked good used in the example, and the total calories on a dry weight basis for that example. The highest and lowest values are noted in bold type.
TABLE 1Patent NumberExample NumberType of flavored baked goodsCalories on a dry weight basis2,802,741 2Cake4.292,865,757 1Cookies4.472,865,757 2Cookies (2)4.452,952,548 2Cookie4.623,023,104 1Honey doughnuts3.363,023,104 2Peanut Butter Cookie4.263,579,548 15aCake3.864,109,02516Biscuits (3)3.864,109,025 4Biscuits (2)3.854,109,025 5Biscuits3.854,219,58010Chocolate cookies3.654,219,58012Chocolate cake 23.574,219,58013Cake 23.444,219,58014Vanilla cookies4.644,219,58016Cake 33.764,219,580 2Cake3.794,219,580 4Chocolate Cake3.924,225,628 1Yellow layer cake4.694,247,56826Cake4.794,247,56831Lincoln biscuit4.744,275,088 1Yellow layer cake4.174,275,088 3Yellow layer cake (2)4.134,351,852 1 (B)Cake 14.364,351,852 2Cake 24.264,351,852 5Devil's Food Cake3.894,351,852 6Yellow cake4.004,424,237 8Cake4.094,431,681 1Cake3.284,431,681 2Cake (2)3.894,431,681 3Cake (3)3.924,451,489 2Cake3.744,526,794 4Orange cake3.874,526,799 1Cake3.824,526,799 2Cake 23.764,526,799 3Cake 33.694,774,099 2Brownie4.834,871,571 2Cookie3.774,950,140 1PB Cookie5.044,968,694 8Biscuit4.175,051,2712-1Sugar cookie5.015,051,2712-2Sugar cookie (2)5.125,051,271 5Brownies4.885,051,271 6Sugar cookie (3)4.615,073,387 6Brownie3.275,106,644IV-AWhite cake4.405,106,644IV-BWhite cake (2)4.385,106,644IV-CWhite cake (3)4.435,106,644VISugar cookies4.765,106,644VII-ARolled biscuits4.635,106,644VII-BRolled biscuits (2)4.575,108,764 1Fermented crackers3.985,108,764 2Unfermented crackers3.855,133,984 1-BLoaf cake3.635,133,98411Cake3.935,133,98412Cake 25.005,133,98413Cake 33.875,133,984 8Oatmeal cookie3.645,169,67113-AAmerican pastry4.025,169,67115Doughnut3.935,169,67123-CSponge cake3.985,194,282 2Chocolate cake4.285,194,282 6Yellow cake4.055,281,5841-6Cookie3.985,308,63916Sugar cookie4.375,308,63924Chocolate Chip Cookie5.245,466,47911Chocolate chip cookies3.515,466,47912Oatmeal Cookies3.285,466,47913Blueberry muffins3.515,472,73229 (Food example 22)Donut4.205,472,73231 (Food example 24)Butter cookie4.045,472,73232 (Food example 25)Pound cake4.265,472,73233 (Food example 26)Sponge cake3.615,472,73234 (Food example 27)Apple Pie5.575,514,404 1Fermented cracker4.015,514,404 2Unfermented cracker4.305,593,503 6Oatmeal cookie4.905,593,503 7Crackers4.255,593,503 9Yellow cake5.375,766,662  11HBrownie3.295,804,243 1Donut4.125,902,41010Yellow cake5.375,902,410 9Oatmeal cookie4.895,906,852 2Cookies4.525,906,852 3Wafers3.785,906,852 3Chocolate chip cookies4.735,906,852 3Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies4.315,906,852 3Sandwich Cookies3.905,976,598 3Cookies4.645,976,598 5Cookies (2)4.526,030,65411Cake4.436,030,654 4Cookie4.146,280,52614Cookie4.566,299,92411Muffin3.926,299,924  12AYellow cake3.836,613,373 9Cookies4.496,627,242 1Pizza crust4.21